Early and fervent support for Dreiser's writing was given by critic H. L. Mencken, who did not slack in his praise of Jennie Gerhardt: "In November, 1911, my article in The Smart Set was entitled 'A Novel of the First Rank' and Jennie was its theme, and thereafter, for five or six years, Dreiser was the stick with which I principally flogged the dullards of my country, at least in the field of beautiful letters." (My Life as Author and Editor, p.129)